Soon We'll Be Found
by heliopaths
Summary: Skye must learn to move past her guilt after Terra Nova's occupation, but that proves to be difficult when Lucas forces his way into her life again.
1. Chapter 1

_**soon we'll be found: chapter one**_  
><em><strong>terra nova,<strong>__ skye tate, tasha guzman, mark reynolds, jess ogawa, 1871_

**Note:** All of these minor characters mentioned (Tasha, Bracco, and Ogawa) made brief appearance on the show. **terranovawiki [dot] org** happens to be a excellent guide. Looking over it, I find the prologue kind of cheesy and I'm not sure it's necessary. What do you guys think?

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><p>Nearly two full months had passed since the Sixers and the Phoenix Group vacated Terra Nova. To Skye it seemed like an unusually long time to go without any surprises from them. But then again without a functioning portal from either now or 2149 and without the help of Lucas Taylor's brilliant mind their attentions must have turned to something else. For once it wasn't Skye's business to care what it was and there was an immeasurable sense of relief in that.<p>

"Mom," Skye called out. "Mom, I'm heading out." Skye glanced into the main bedroom to her mother's still figure. Deborah's eyes were half-lidded and Skye wasn't altogether sure if she had heard Skye speak or not.

Since returning to Terra Nova, Deborah's sickly pallor had improved remarkably. She was capable of staying awake longer and would even accompany Skye to the market every few days. However, Dr. Shannon had said these changes had more to do with anti-nausea drugs and better nutrition rather than any developments with the Sincyllic Fever antidote.

For the thousandth time Skye wondered if the past three years had been worth it or not. She swallowed thickly and then spoke again to the unhearing woman. "I'll be back in a few hours."

Skye looked out the window once. The rain was still unrelenting after three days, heavy enough to leave her drenched before she reached her internship at the infirmary. She grabbed a plastic poncho from her room and pulled it over her head before heading out. It took about twenty minutes for Skye to get from the residential units to her destination.

She stuffed her poncho and a small purse in a drawer the infirmary had given to the workers for personal belongings. Dr. Shannon wasn't on shift this afternoon, so she reported to Malcolm. He wasn't as familiar with what training Skye had so he sent her off to recalibrate the biobeds's settings if they happened to be unused. It may have been gopher work, but it kept her busy. Elisabeth would have probably had Skye shadow another nurse or doctor; she seemed peculiarly determined to keep Skye interacting with people, but Skye preferred the more solitary tasks these days.

Going through the biobed settings was an uncomplicated task, but it required a particular attention to detail. At her pace she could process six beds in one hour. She didn't take any breaks, but if there happed to be an active medical procedure in place nearby she would pause with her task briefly to observe it. By the time she was well into her third hour a flurry of activity broke her concentration.

Skye counted six officers come in. At least one was carried in on a stretcher and another needed to be supported in order to walk. Her eyes settled on one individual she was more familiar with than the others.

"Look, stop this. I'm fine! It's just a scratch," the woman cried. Skye had known Tasha Guzman well enough to recognize that she was both annoyed and embarrassed by the attention.

"I'm no expert, but you're going to need stitches, Guzman," Mark Reynolds helped her onto a free biobed. "Settle down."

Since her father's death in the resistance, Skye's former roommate and best friend had changed into something unrecognizable. The soft and delicate parts of Tasha's personality had given way to something fierce and impenetrable. She was still beautiful but it was of a different kind.

"It's Bracco they need to worry about!" She sat herself up, pretending the bloody slash on her thigh wasn't causing her pain. The other medical personnel happened to agree with Tasha. There was a growing crowd around Bracco's moaning form.

Mark tried to grab a figure leaving his table. "Ogawa! Nurse Ogawa, do you think we could get some help here?"

Skye pretended she hadn't seen Tasha come in and returned to her task hoping it would fill the remaining hours of her shift. Of course that wish went unheard. Looking back she should have left the area or taken a break.

"Skye, why don't you put that away," Nurse Ogawa approached her. "It's a waste of your time. I need you to do something." With an increasing sense of anxiety, Skye realized she was following Nurse Ogawa to Tasha's bed. "Look here, I've already done the disinfecting, I just need you to - "

_"No."_

Skye eyes finally met Tasha's. Her expression was furious and she glared daggers at Skye. Skye couldn't force herself to look away. Ogawa fell quiet and looked back and forth between Tasha and Skye. Mark shuffled uncomfortably next to them all staring down as if there was something very interesting about the floor.

"We don't have a wealth of staff at hand - " Nurse Ogawa began.

"Not. Her."

Then Skye tried, "Tasha, I - "

"Don't speak to me _you Sixer whore!_"

The force behind Tasha's words was akin to a physical blow. Skye unconsciously took steps away from Tasha and the plexpad she had been carrying fell to the floor. The room had fallen quiet with the exception of the handful of doctors and nurses working with Bracco. Her jaw fell open but Skye found she was unable to breathe.

No one had spoken out to Skye so directly. There were whispers, glances and a comment or two, but Skye supposed her former closeness with the Commander had kept them from becoming anything more. She could understand if they hated her or even if they blamed her for some of the lives lost in the occupation because she hated and blamed herself too. However she hadn't expected this. Is this what everyone had been thinking? That she and Lucas had been... Her mind immediately stopped. She didn't like to think about him.

Dr. Shannon had been so completely and utterly wrong in encouraging Skye to come back. What was she even doing here? She shouldn't be allowed out. She should be in exile. It was only through the Commander's grace she was even allowed to exist in Terra Nova.

When the tension broke, everyone spoke at once.

"Private Guzman! If you expect to be treated in our infirmary now or at any time in the future - "

"Skye - "

"She is not coming _anywhere near me_ - "

Skye fled the room and headed straight for the exit. Her scrubs were soon soaked under the torrent. At one point, she stopped, closed her eyes and turned her face to the sky. That would have been a perfect moment to scream and let out her anguish, but Skye had had three years of telling herself what emotion and in what range was appropriate to let out. Even now when that control wasn't necessary anymore she still couldn't let go.

Instead she covered her face and let out a quiet sob before resuming her walk back home. Hopefully her mother would still be dozing and Skye would be able to jump in the shower without her mom catching a hint of her mood.

"Skye!" A hand clamped down on her shoulder and she jumped around.

"Mark!" Skye cried out. "What are you doing out here?" He tugged her lightly by the crook of her elbow and led them to the porch of a nearby housing unit giving them relief from the rain.

"She didn't mean it," Mark said with some urgency. "She didn't mean what she said. Tasha's still... angry."

"And with good reason." Skye looked around at the physical damage that the base had yet to repair. Would they be able to fix everything without new supplies from the portal? "Is that what everyone is saying about me? That I... _fucked_ Lucas?" She didn't like saying his name, but it seemed necessary at the moment.

"No, no one is saying that." Mark shook his head.

"Everyone hates me though." How juvenile it sounded when she said it out loud, but Skye was sure it was true and it hurt.

"They know you know you made a mistake."

"I ran a program for him in The Eye. If I knew what it was going to lead to, I never would have - maybe - I don't know. He said he was going to hurt Mom if I didn't do it." Mark guided her to a chair then because that was the type of thoughtful thing Mark would do. Mark was unerringly kind.

"Ever since then he would _watch_ me." In her mind, she saw Lucas's eyes so clearly and felt the strange mix of fear and _something else_ she had when he would stand next to her with his eyes locked on her expression. "He called me his sister," she glanced up at Mark's concerned look and added in explanation, "because of the Commander.

"But then, then... he would touch my hair." Skye looked away from Mark again as she said this.

It felt wrong to be saying these things out loud. She felt an immediate urgency to stop. She didn't like to think about Lucas and her responsibility for his death. Yet there was a part of Skye that yearned to be believed and wished for someone to see that she wasn't all rotten. She knew there was a good possibility of getting that kind of validation from an old friend like Mark.

"I just decided to act as if these things weren't happening. Like he wasn't there. Like he wasn't a breath's distance away from me."

Being the object of Lucas's attention had been nothing less than terrifying for Skye. She would have rather not been acknowledged by him at all. He was unstable and capricious. Every word he spoke to her had been laced with a promise to help her if she succeeded or threat if she failed him, but each time his hints of madness left her feeling she was entering into an agreement where she wasn't being told all of the terms. At least with Mira things had been straightforward.

There was also the matter of how his gazes differed from the sweet admiring looks that she sometimes received from Josh and Hunter. Her reactions to the two younger men could be labeled and managed. When she realized that Lucas's smiles and watching were bordering on genuine affection, there was a tiny thrill before an awful panic flared within her that simply told her she must be rid of him.

Then an terrible thought came to the front of her mind, "You don't think the Commander believes I - "

"He's the last person who'd jump to that kind of conclusion. And like I said, Tasha's angry. You're not the only person she's lashed out at lately." Mark shrugged.

Skye wanted to believe Mark, but she wouldn't know for sure what was on the Commander's mind unless she spoke to him directly. Of course that wasn't going to happen any time in the near future.

She finally brought herself to look at Mark's expression searching for any indication of disgust or disbelief and found neither. Her outburst had alarmed him of course. She had typically been a reserved but happy young woman; she wondered what exactly he thought of her now after all these years of knowing each other. In the end he offered to walk her home.


	2. Chapter 2

_**soon we'll be found: chapter two**_  
><em><strong>terra nova,<strong>__ skye tate, elisabeth shannon, deborah tate, commander taylor, 1882_

**Note:** I'm so flattered by those of you adding this fic to your faves and alerts! If you get a moment, please leave me a line or two as well. I'd love to hear whatever thoughts you may have about what I'm doing here.

Thanks **LilMissKimmie** and **AlexisSalvatore17**! And **TheWater'sChild**, your questions will be answered by the next chapter, but this is definitely not going to be a Skye/Josh story.

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><p>Skye heard laughter before she opened the front door. Frowning slightly, she turned into the kitchen with Mark behind her to see her mom in the company of Dr. Shannon and her daughters.<p>

"Oh, Bucket!" her mother exclaimed at her soaked appearance. Skye chose to simply give the women an impish grin and excused herself to take a quick shower.

It may have unfairly left Mark to explain why they had arrived together, but she couldn't feel too guilty because she hadn't wanted to do that herself. While she basked in the warmth of the water and the feel of the clean, dry clothes, she pretended that Mark and Dr. Shannon weren't having a hushed conversation about why Skye had left her shift early.

Her thoughts had lingered more on Lucas more than she would have preferred today. And whenever Lucas entered her mind it was hard to make him leave. But she was determined to get him out for this evening or at least not let on how much thoughts of him had troubled her.

By the time Skye returned, Mark was gone. Her mom, Zoe and Maddy had moved to the living room and Zoe was busy demonstrating in her adorable six-year-old ways how to identify certain species of dinosaurs by the way they moved.

"Skye, would you mind helping me?" Dr. Shannon was still in the kitchen with some uncooked fish and an assortment of vegetables out in front of her.

They were going to have a real homemade meal, she realized with surprise. And then when Mr. Shannon and Josh would get off work they were going to all sit and eat together. Why hadn't she encouraged this with herself and her mom? She typically prepared a meal for Deborah and grabbed a spare fruit and bread with butter or jam for herself. She had been the same way when she was living with Hunter, Tasha and Max.

"This is... amazing, Dr. Shannon. Thank you!" Skye grinned. "Where did Mark go? I thought he would've stayed for Maddy."

"He said he had to return to the infirmary for some of his friends." Of course, Tasha and Bracco. Skye nodded. "How did it go today?"

"Oh," Skye kept her voice convincingly nonchalant, "It went all right. I wasn't really needed, so I left early."

"Really?" Dr. Shannon gave her a look that told Skye her fib hadn't worked. Skye hadn't tried very hard anyway; it would have easily been confirmed as a lie by Elisabeth's next shift. She supposed this also meant Mark and the good doctor had spoken. "Without an umbrella or a jacket?" Skye shrugged. Dr. Shannon tried to get the younger woman to open up about what happened in the hospital a few times, but received little help from Skye. The hurt still felt too raw to think about so she had pushed it away to the back of her mind.

Eager to change the subject, Skye asked, "How's the progress with Mom's treatments?" She lit the stove and Dr. Shannon placed a fish in the center of a pan.

"Malcolm and I are working on it. It's been a bit challenging without all the tools we might have had before."

_Or the ones that could have been asked for from the portal if it hadn't needed to be destroyed,_ Skye added silently.

"Are you sure you can't think of any materials the Sixers might have used to make it?"

"No, they kind of used that against me."

Mira had offered few clues. At first, she wouldn't even administer the drugs to Deborah in front of Skye. Skye wished she had asked Lucas to get one of the Sixers to tell her. He might have been willing to help in that brief period she was in his favor, but back then she was more certain Elisabeth and Malcolm would develop a synthetic alternative. Also, Skye had wanted to avoid putting herself into Lucas's debt.

Skye set to chopping the vegetables and the two of them settled into silence. Maddy came up to them a few minutes later to offer help. When they declined, she started chattering away happily and pulled Skye into an easy conversation. Zoe joined them soon after. "Mrs. Tate got tired."

Deborah was dozing again on the couch. Skye covered her with a blanket and dimmed the lights in the living room. "She just needs to rest for a little while," Skye said to a worried looking Zoe. "I'm sure she'll up by the time dinner's ready."

It was strange having the Shannon's family happy noise fill up the usually quiet space of her home. Skye wasn't used to it. It dawned on her that this business of self-blame and isolation was selfish and hurting her mom in multiple ways. Skye had never cared much about what other people thought of her (unless it could affect her from leaving or returning Terra Nova without notice), so why was she so obsessed with it now. Instead should be encouraging her mom to go out more or inviting people back to see her. These were small things that could make her mom happier.

The dark mood that had been hanging over her all day lifted slightly and she found herself genuinely enjoying the Shannon women's company. Yes, Skye decided, she would no longer hang her head each day she left the house. She was going to be better. And at the very least she could use Dr. Shannon and Maddy as some sort of example for herself and her mom.

Maddy and Zoe were setting the table when the Terra Nova security alarms began blaring. The four women immediately stopped what they were doing and looked up. Maddy and Zoe watched their mother.

"Mom!" Zoe wailed. Elisabeth moved to hold the young girl.

"Maddy, Skye, why don't you make sure all the doors and windows are locked." They started immediately. By the time they were half-way through, Josh arrived.

"Why didn't you stay at the bar!" Elisabeth admonished hugging her son. "You shouldn't have been out like this."

"I needed to know everyone was okay," Josh said breathlessly. "They found Sixers inside the gate. Boylan said they have two in custody and they think there might be more."

With that new information, Skye left to finish checking on the windows barely hearing her mother call her name with heavy drowsiness.

"It's that noise again," Skye vaguely heard Deborah croak from the kitchen. "That alarm."

When Maddy and Skye finished, both families moved to sit at the half-prepared kitchen table. By then the alarms had changed to a slightly different tone. One that told them: The immediate threat is over but remain inside. The elder Shannon siblings tried to comfort and distract Zoe while she cried into her mother's shoulder for their father. Deborah stared past them all and looked out the window.

Growing sick with the tension and pretending Josh wasn't try to catch her eye, Skye murmured an excuse and left for her room. She found herself taking a deep breath when she was by herself.

_The Sixers,_ Skye thought bitterly. _What do they want to take from us now?_

She idly began to look through her shelf for a game or book that could occupy Zoe attention, but she didn't really own anything that might appeal to a child. Then she rummaged through some of her drawers. Didn't she own a deck of cards? No that had belonged to Max... Maybe there was something on her plex.

Her eyes passed over the window, catching a vague dark form moving outside. She should have left her room immediately and let security deal with it, but the past few years had forced Skye to cultivate a curiosity for other people's secrets and going-ons. She really should go back to her mom, but first she had to look closer.

It was impossible to identify anything through the window past the side of the neighboring housing unit. She was prepared to believe it had been a trick of the eye caused by the heavy rain and darkness until a flash of lightning illuminated the form.

Skye locked eyes with the very much not-dead Lucas Taylor. When the lightning passed she could still follow the edges of his figure in the darkness. Skye kept her eyes trained on Lucas as he brought up a hand and waved to her in a casual manner.

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Those few moments led to hours of questioning with Mr. Shannon and the new lieutenant in a spare room of the barracks.

_Are you sure the man you saw Lucas Taylor? Did he try to say anything to you? What was he wearing? What was he carrying? Did you see any weapons on him? Was he trying to send you a message? To Commander Taylor?_

Skye didn't see Taylor until the end of it. She felt almost ill and was close to tears when he came near.

Her betrayal had come with a great cost to their relationship. After the success of the resistance, Taylor rarely acknowledged her presence although he always spared a kind word or smile for Deborah in passing. The way the Commander had chosen to cast Skye off left her with a sharp sense of abandonment. Logically, Skye knew it was his way of dealing with his own pain over her deception and Lucas's death. However, her quiet desperation for forgiveness, kindness or even a polite nod gave her the faint inkling of understanding why Lucas had been so certain the Commander hated him.

_Like me again,_ she found herself thinking pathetically. _Please._

"Are you certain you saw him, child?" It was the first words Taylor had spoken to her in recent weeks that hadn't been affected with disappointment or contempt.

Skye nodded unable to speak. Taylor exhaled sharply. Her hands clutched nervously at the seat of her chair.

"Skye," Taylor suddenly stepped close to her and went down on one knee so she would have to meet his beseeching eyes. "Killing a man, it's not easy on a person. Even if there's no other choice. I know the guilt that can cause. It could have been some other Sixer or one of our men. Maybe you were hoping L-Lucas lived." At the mention of his son, Taylor's tongue seemed to trip over the word. Was that his own hope?

Even so, there was more blood on her hands than Taylor was kind enough to imply right then. Skye hoped everyone could have made it: Tasha's father, Wash, Kara and more. Sometimes Lucas too, but plenty others came before him on that list.

Skye knew she wouldn't be able to respond to his concern and familiar regard without crying, so she simply repeated the answer to his first question, her voice barely above a whisper, "Sir, I know who I saw."

Taylor drew away from her and whatever she had perceived as tenderness quickly faded from his expression. When he left the room, Skye began to cry.

x

x

She slept fitfully that night. When she woke it was with a strangled scream. The next morning she could recollect little of her nightmares except for the sensation of fingertips sliding from forehead to temple and a deceptively soft voice calling her childhood nickname.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong> Ha! See, he's alive! And in the next chapter Lucas might actually speak. :D


	3. Chapter 3

_**soon we'll be found: chapter three**_  
><em><strong>terra nova,<strong>__ skye tate, deborah tate, lucas taylor (finally!), 1865_

**Note:** I'm so flattered by those of you adding this fic to your faves and alerts! If you get a moment, please leave me a line or two as well. I'd love to hear whatever thoughts you may have about what I'm doing here.

Thanks for your comments and encouragement **Anonymous**, **TheWater'sChild** and **AlexisSalvatore17**! Okay, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Finally, some Lucas. I really tried to keep them both in character, but if anything seems off let me know. :)

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><p>Over the next week, the rain lightened to a constant drizzle. The downpour had softened the ground to the point where inside the gates one couldn't take a step without sinking a foot into the mud. It wasn't unusual to see officers with their uniforms muddied up to their waist.<p>

As far as anyone knew the two Sixers were still in custody. Skye half-expected Mira and company to storm up to the main gates and demand the return of her men from Taylor in some grand threatening gesture, but maybe things had changed inside the Sixers's camp with the presence of the Phoenix Group.

_Or maybe they're just waiting for the ground to harden,_ Skye thought with annoyance as shrugged off some of her soiled outer clothing before entering her home. She left her jacket, socks and shoes out under the porch so she wouldn't make as much of a mess inside her home.

Skye was pleased to see that her mother had fallen asleep this evening with the plexpad next to her. Maybe Deborah had been reading one of the new books Skye had loaded into it for her. Skye didn't often see her in the kind of alert and interested state of mind Deborah had been in the past few days. Elisabeth was trying something different with Deborah's dosage. Although, she still tired too quickly and too often for Skye's liking.

In the kitchen, she found that her mom had been up and about cleaning and whatnot. There was a rice and bean dish in the pot still warm. _Like she used to make._ Skye smiled, her heart swelling a bit. It was going to be one of Deborah's better weeks.

Things had been going well at home, the hospital and in general for Skye, but she wasn't without worries. Security never found Lucas or a hint of him. She was still spooked by his appearance outside her home. Taylor had taken back the sonic gun he had given her for her last birthday when he caught her returning from the Sixers. And later on, Mr. Shannon had her home searched and confiscated a contraband sonic taser. The only other weapon she had in her possession now was a knife the length of her palm and she always kept it close to her.

At least the non-stop rain had given Terra Nova a surplus in their reserves of fresh water. She didn't feel as guilty she normally would have for spending extra time in the shower. After changing, she poured the meal her mom had prepared into a bowl for herself and walked back to her room.

Each time she would pass Deborah's room, Skye had an unconscious habit of glancing in without stopping. It couldn't be helped now even though she had just been in the room minutes ago. Expecting to see nothing other than the foot of her mom's bed and the window facing it she kept walking for a second before she suddenly stopped with her grip fiercely tight on the bowl.

_No, no, no, no..._

Her mind simply froze. She tried to go over the few options she could come up with, but there was nothing that could be done. Her mind was too frenzied to plot or strategize. She would not be able to leave to call for help and she would not abandon her mother a second time. Skye turned around.

Lucas had moved the desk chair to a position where he could keep an eye on her mother and the door at the same time. His head was tilted towards Deborah at the moment watching her with a curious expression. He held a pistol in his right hand. Unfamiliar with many of the weapons the mercenaries brought, Skye couldn't be sure if it was a sonic or used bullets.

Setting the bowl aside, Skye took careful steps into the room until she was halfway between him and the door. He sat eerily still without acknowledging her. "Lucas," Skye could only think to say with unblinking eyes.

The younger Taylor looked thinner than when she had seen him last. Also paler than she might have expected for someone who lived out in the elements. He had the appearance of a man who had been sick and taken a long time to heal. Had this been Lucas's price for recovering from the bullet wounds?

She looked at her mother once again. Her chest still rose and fell at a steady rate. Maybe he hadn't done anything to her yet.

Skye took another step closer to him. Finally, he began to move. The gun changed hands and he rubbed his unshaven face with the palm of the free hand. Her very world seemed centered on where the end of the gun pointed.

"Lucas, _please_." Her voice hitched on a sob.

"Shh, Bucket." Lucas raised a finger to his lips, finally raising his eyes to hers. He hadn't lost the ability to unnerve her and hold her in place with his gaze. "We don't want to wake up Mom." His lips curved into a delirious smile. Skye briefly shut her eyes forcing the tears to fall. Dread filled every breath she took. He was pulling Deborah into the sick family he had made out of himself, Taylor and Skye.

In the past, Skye had been capable of concealing most of her emotions around Lucas, but that was when she was less afraid and more certain immediate violence was avoidable. The last time they had been in each other's presence Skye had put two bullets in Lucas to protect the man Lucas hated most. She couldn't predict how he would take his revenge.

"She's not a part of this. It was me, Lucas," she pleaded and spoke rapidly, "I'm the one who lied to you. _I_ betrayed you. She's done nothing."

Lucas flew up from the chair and headed straight for Skye. His free hand went to her throat and he pressed her backward in a disturbingly intimate motion until her head hit the wall. "I'm perfectly _aware_ of what you have done, dear Sister!" He squeezed her neck on the last word. Skye sobbed but remained pliable, unwilling to fight back with her mom in the room.

"And you know what? This time I _don't_ forgive you." He raised her slightly with one hand and shoved her back against the wall. Skye grabbed the hand he used to hold her trying to pull it off her. "I have never given anyone as many chances as I've given you!"

Skye thought of the knife hidden on her person, but there was no way she could get it out or even use it while his attention was so perfectly centered on her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she choked out. "I - "

"Lucky for you," his grasp suddenly lightened and Skye sucked in a large gulp of air, "I need you for something." Skye's gaze flicked back to her mom who now stared back.

"Of course," she said. Lucas invaded her space further and touched the tip of his forehead to hers until Skye could look at anything other than his eyes. Then when it became too much she let her vision fall to his lips. "I'll do anything."

And she would do anything to lead him away from this room and house. Anything to lure him a safe distance from Deborah. Then when they would get far enough, she would raise all matter of hell to stop him or get the security officers to notice them.

"You won't come quietly though, will you?" The tone of his voice rose as if he was learning something. His fingertips rose from the side of her neck to her chin. He shook his head from side to side, forcing Skye to do the same with this hand. "No, because even though he can't stand to _look_ at you, can't stand to be in the _same room_ as you, you still crave the love of our father." Skye couldn't tell if his disappointed tone was genuine or mocking, yet she felt more tears fall when she thought of Taylor walking away from her last week.

"I'll go quietly. I swear," she said as calmly as she could. Her hands were still clasped around the wrist of his hand that held her face. Skye raised one of the hands to Lucas' arm, holding not pushing, and prayed the slight change in her demeanor might help convince him. She raised it higher when he didn't show signs of reacting negatively. He glanced down vulnerably at her hand and bit at his lower lip lightly before his look returned to her face.

From the edge of her vision she could see Deborah rising from the bed. _No!_ Skye's mind screamed.

"_Right now._ I'll go where ever you want." Skye tried to make some sort of whimpering noise to cover the possibility of Lucas hearing Deborah approach them. She started to lower her other hand to make a desperate grab for the knife hidden in her belt.

"I wish I could believe you, Bucket." The vindictive glare that came with Lucas's soft smile warned Skye something bad was about to happen.

"Don't!" Skye begged a second before Lucas slammed the pistol's grip against her temple. She crumpled to the ground.

Moments later, Lucas felt something hard and heavy fall on the back of his own head. He automatically threw his arms out to keep himself from falling against the wall and caught sight of a lamp rolling past his feet. Lucas scrambled to turn around and keep the pain from overwhelming him. When he saw Skye's sickly mother trembling ahead of him, he quickly reigned in his fury.

"Hey, Deb. Nice to see you finally up and about." Lucas touched the back of his head to feel the source of pain.

"Get away from her, Lucas." Deborah fumed taking a furtive glance at her daughter on the floor. "Skye isn't going to help you anymore. She's done with you people."

Lucas smirked watching Deborah clench her bony fists. "I think there are one or two things she can still do for me." He brought his hand back from his head and wiggled his fingers to see them coated with blood. "Don't worry though, she won't be gone long. I'll make sure sweet Skye gets back home."

When he started to move around to Skye's side, Deborah cried out, _"NO!"_

Deborah may have been weak but she was a mother driven by a combination of rage, fear and adrenaline. She dug her elbows into his stomach and then scratched furiously at his face and neck. Lucas took more injury than he needed to because he hadn't been interested in hurting Deborah. If she hadn't acted out, he would have simply locked her in her room as he left with Skye. Finally growing annoyed with the struggle, he squeezed her throat until she passed out.

Skye moaned mournfully from the other side of the room, but he didn't look at her right then. Once Lucas was sure Deborah was still breathing, Lucas carried Skye's half-conscious form with him out of the house.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong> How was that? :D If things works out as I hope, in the next chapter you should learn what Lucas needs Skye for and they have a conversation.


	4. Chapter 4

_**soon we'll be found: chapter four**_  
><em><strong>terra nova,<strong>__ skye tate, lucas taylor, 1914_

**Note:** So, the prologue is gone! In the end, I decided it was unnecessary to the story, but I chose to insert some parts of it into the first three chapters when appropriate. Also, I went back and edited certain portions of the story. I'm writing without a beta, and I've found that even after I've read a chapter 10-15 times I still find lines and passages I'm not 100% content with leaving alone. However, I don't think anything important to the story has been altered.

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><p>Skye returned to consciousness to find herself feeling cold and slightly damp from rain. Her fingers spread, exploring. She felt cool concrete not grass. In the back of her mind, it registered to Skye this meant she was still inside Terra Nova or possibly at an outpost. She tried opening her eyes the slightest bit but shut them immediately afterwards. As dim as the room was the lights burned her eyes. It caused a searing pain to go through her head giving way to nausea and she was forced to lean over and vomit bile.<p>

Skye felt a presence come near and touch her back. It may have felt nice, but she didn't like the idea of a stranger's hands on her. When the last heaves were over she turned to move herself into a sitting position and saw with some surprise that it was Lucas next to her. He pressed a cloth up to her face wiping away her tears and remnants of her sick. She flinched when she realized he was touching her, but he simply used his other hand to gently but firmly hold her head in place.

"What are you doing?" she asked hoarsely, not able to understand his seeming acts of kindness.

"Here." Lucas placed a canteen under her lips. Skye weakly tried to push it away, but he pressed it against her lips again. "It's water," he said with some exasperation. "Don't swallow, spit." Skye obediently complied spitting out the water away from them, her mouth and tongue feeling immediately cleaner.

"Now drink." She took long, slow gulps and a felt a physical relief spread through her limbs although the pain in her head wouldn't abate.

Looking around, Skye finally realized they were in The Eye. It was located under the command compound. This also meant they were directly under Taylor's feet. How could he have possibly gotten her down here without notice?

Lucas left her with the water, confident she wasn't in any condition to get in the way of what he was doing. He sat down in the main chair and resumed the program he had been working on.

"My mom - "

"Is fine," Lucas quickly replied. "She might be a little sore when she's up again, but there won't be any permanent damage." He glanced back at her to take pleasure in the ways her pretty face displayed her anguish.

"You can't treat her that way, Lucas! You know she's sick!"

"I don't think she's the one you need to worry about right now," said Lucas in that low way of his that always unnerved her.

The side of Lucas she was seeing reminded her of the first time they met. His persona was one more of focus and determination with an underlying hint of cruelty, but Skye wasn't foolish enough to think she was safe from the mad rage he had greeted her with earlier.

"You said you needed me for something." Skye asked carefully. "What is it?"

"Let's see, Bucket. After the last time you betrayed me _and_ shot me twice, I spent a long time thinking about what my next move was going to be and of course what I was going to do with you." He paused his incessant tapping on the plex to share his hostile grin with her. Skye, however, remained dour and poker-faced as usual.

Lucas noted that without Deborah close by Skye had become braver. Back at her home, he had seen her display a larger range of emotions than he had ever seen from her. In the past, her control had frustrated him. He had wanted her open up to him and lower the walls she had placed around herself. Yet Skye refused to offer him the kindness or affection he had unexpectedly begun to crave from her. She had also been unwilling to open herself to him without provocation except when she'd begged for Shannon's son and then claimed to disown his father. Although Lucas hadn't quite fully trusted her on either occasion, he had been stupid enough in his infatuation to give her what she asked for anyway.

Feeling uncomfortably vulnerable, he turned back to the screens ahead of him. "Of course, the professional must take priority over the personal right now."

Skye frowned. Every action she had ever seen him take had been motivated for personal reasons, but Lucas enjoyed indulging in theatrics and liked to hear himself talk. He also had a habit of revealing a little something extra when he did.

"When those fools abandoned this place, they hardly took any of my notes with them and I have little doubt your dear commander destroyed them the moment they were found." His face soured, the affected jauntiness leaving his body. "I have scraps. Fractions of formulas that took _years_ to develop."

"I lost everything I'd worked for the past _six years_ in the space of a handful of hours thanks to _you!_" The vitriol Skye had seen in him at start of the evening returned.

She closed her eyes. Maybe his true reason for "needing her help" was to take his anger and revenge out on her. Then he would leave her body right under Taylor's office to take some sort of twisted victory over his father.

"Why am I here, Lucas?" she asked with some resignation. Wait, no, she wasn't ready to hear it. She didn't want to know yet. "Hold on. How did you get us in here without getting caught?"

"A distraction was arranged." Lucas lips curved into a grin. "Our father and a good number of his officers are OTG. They're probably running around in circles right now."

Skye exhaled sharply, praying for Taylor's safety.

"Anyway how is the great Commander these days? I know he still hasn't forgiven you."

Skye frowned. "Are you guessing or do you have a new spy in the colony?" she asked with a testy edge to her voice.

Lucas ignored her. "You know it's never going to come. Once he believes you've failed him there's little anyone can do to find themselves back in his good graces."

_Sounds like something the two of you have in common,_ Skye thought bitterly.

"You should have joined me when you had the chance."

She held back a sigh at his words and was grateful he wasn't looking at her when he spoke. She pushed away the messy bundle of feelings that his tone and voice brought up within her and tried to focus on what might be going on in his mind. But that was a challenge of its own. Trying to analyze Lucas coupled with the pain in her temple was impossible. She couldn't get a sense of him on this. What was it? Was he more regretful that she wouldn't support him or more angry that she had chosen to protect his father? Of course it was probably both and more.

She certainly couldn't put on an act of being sorry; she was sure Lucas would be able to see right through her, but she had to start from someplace. "Lucas," Skye started hesitantly. "I don't think I would be able to forgive someone for killing my only son either."

Lucas suddenly chuckled tearing his attention away from the holographic data. "Bucket, why do you insist on giving the man so much credit?"

Skye shook her head. "If you'd seen the way he looked after - after what I did. He was so heartbroken." Skye briefly let her own guilt in the matter of Taylor's pain and violence against Lucas begin to tear at her until she saw Lucas's lips curl upward in an expression of contempt. Skye chose not to speak any more about the matter.

Her mind was steadily clearing. The Sixers, or at the very least Lucas, were still planning something. It had been too naive to hope the Sixers had accepted defeat and withdrawn permanently. It had also been naive to trust Lucas died in the jungle bleeding out from his wounds. He was too valuable to the Sixers for them to not come for him. And if they'd been capable of developing a treatment for Sincyllic Fever, they probably knew a thing or two about bullet wounds.

Now they were back inside Terra Nova, Skye's home. And if Lucas was telling her the truth there were a number of things going on at the same time. According to Lucas, the Commander was OTG. A "distraction" meant he had been drawn away from Terra Nova and probably taken with him a healthy-sized convoy. Skye thought over this for a while and decided there were two likely possibilities. Either Taylor had been led into an ambush or his absence was meant to weaken the colony. Maybe both.

Skye realized with a sinking feeling that if Lucas had been capable of carrying an unconscious woman in the direction of the command compound, his plans must be working.

Then there was one other matter that had been needling her. "Why are you so clean?" Skye remarked at his appearance. "Have you been in Terra Nova this whole time?" His boots were caked with mud much like everyone else's in the colony, but she couldn't imagine going through a drainage pipe and looking half as unsoiled as Lucas did. "Have you been staying in one of the empty housing units?"

"Well, you're not stupid," Lucas responded with little affect as he grew engrossed with the active data screens.

Skye quietly scoffed before taking another sip of the water. She needed to act. Her hand began searching for knife hidden in her belt. Maybe when he came close to her again... However, she found that her belt had been removed.

Skye's eyes flashed to Lucas, feeling aggrieved. "You took it."

Lucas glanced to her and where her hands were. "Of course I did."

He must have searched her while she was out. She ignored that strange twinge she felt when she thought of Lucas's hands on her and running over that part of her body.

"Little cub has found her legs." Skye was finally on her feet although the floor kept tilting in ways it wasn't meant to. She stuck by the wall to keep herself upright. "That's good because we're getting to the part where you're going to help me."

Skye looked up with some panic to see him coming straight in her direction. "Come here."

He tugged her towards him. She staggered forward a few steps before she started falling over. His arms were wrapped around her within moments. Skye shut her eyes and moaned into his chest feeling the pain in her temple flare. She pressed her hands against his shoulders originally in an attempt to push him away, but she ended up holding onto them so wouldn't slip back down again.

"I'm dizzy," she pleaded.

Lucas frowned slightly and then placed an arm under a shoulder to support her. The light from the liquid memory core cast a blue glow in the room seeming to soften both of their features. Skye was inexplicably reminded of Lucas's unguarded, joyous expression back from when he had finished reconciling his formulas.

Skye spoke again in a quiet voice, "Are you going to kill me?"

To her relief, he looked surprised at the suggestion. Then he turned his face into the curves of her neck and chuckled darkly. Skye trembled not knowing what this ultimately meant for them. Nothing was ever simple with Lucas Taylor.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong> I really tried to keep Skye and Lucas's dynamic as close to canon as possible. If something feels off, please let me know! Thanks for reading. :D Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

_**soon we'll be found: chapter five**_  
><em><strong>terra nova,<strong>__ skye tate, lucas taylor, 3305_

**Note:** Thank you for your comments and thoughts for the last two chapters **AlexisSalvatore17**, **flimmer** x2, **agentsilentowl**, **geailter**, **vaarna**, **Cinn Knight**, **kerriclifford240879**, **aubreee** and **Anonymous**! A longer A/N is at the end. :)

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><p>Lucas parted from her slowly. A rush of cool air entered the space between them and Skye shuddered a little more as a result of it. He gave her a significantly softer look that seemed to shine in Skye's opinion. Lucas wasn't going to kill her tonight. Probably. That tiny yet important nugget of knowledge gave her the courage to ask questions than she wouldn't have before.<p>

"Lucas," Skye said, closing her eyes. "What's going to happen to the people inside Terra Nova?"

There lay a long silence between them. She knew the heavy doors of The Eye could shield much noise from from entering the room. It had probably been designed to be that way. She found herself searching for a hint of the overpowering chaos she had heard when the Sixers had assailed the colony two months ago.

She opened her eyes to see Lucas's annoyed glare quickly turn speculative. She should have broached a lighter subject first, but what could she have really started with? The weather?

"There are families," Skye tried. "Children." Lucas began leading her to the chair without responding, however he was gentler in moving her than he had been the first time.

She had lost a good opportunity. Perhaps she should have gone for the personal, Skye realized. She should have brought up whatever it was that existed between them, but talking of such matters were difficult enough to broach with someone as kind and straightforward as Josh. She had stuttered through most of the awkward conversation where she had turned down Hunter. It all embarrassed her to no end. So how could she attempt to speak of it with someone who with one look could make her feel as if she were drowning and flying at the same time?

Before she knew what had happened Lucas had pulled her to sit on the chair in the space between his knees, her back set against his front. The seat was large for someone of Skye's petite size, but with the both of them, it became quite snug. "Lucas?" Skye said feeling afraid once again. She leaned forward trying to put a few inches between the two of them. "What do you need from me?"

"If you recall..." Skye felt his breath hot against her neck, then her cheek. This was different than their brief, unexpected embrace earlier. She felt a dangerous charge at the points where her skin touched his. "I once asked you to come here and do something for me. I need you to tell me the precise date and time you did that."

"Is that - _Is that it?_" Skye turned to look at him and found their faces too close for her liking. She tried to draw away but it only led her closer into the cage of his arms.

"You went through all the trouble of bringing me here to ask that? Why didn't you just ask me at my home?" Skye shook her head feeling both incredulous and worried at the same time. There had to be more to why he had taken such a risk. Lucas had a wicked temper, but he wasn't reckless.

"I couldn't take the chance of having you give me the wrong information and then have to go through the trouble of getting to you all over again." Lucas gave her a troubling half-smile and ran a finger across the bottom of her lower lip. Skye jerked away from the touch. His smiled deepened, but he drew back his hand.

"You broke into my house. _Terrorized_ me and my mom." Briefly forgetting her fear and the danger, she let her anger rise without restraint. "You've probably given me a concussion. And God knows what you've done to my mom!"

"The thing is, Bucket. I don't break my promises. You do. This way, I'll know whether or not you're lying right away." It was all so convoluted but strangely logical. Of course she would have lied. Anything that would help Lucas would inevitably lead to injure Taylor or Terra Nova.

"So, when was it, Bucket?" He looked almost amused. Skye couldn't understand why. She looked back to the screens ahead of them. He had brought up coding and information directly related to history and programming The Eye. To her relief she found him leaning back although he seemed to dig his knees a little harder into her hips to keep her from moving. "Buuucket."

"You just hit me on the head and not for the first time," she said indignantly. "Forgive me if I have a hard time remembering a thing or two."

"Oh, I think you're tougher than you let on."

Skye sneered. She didn't need Lucas to tell her that.

"Fine, let's start with an easier question. Whose name did you use to access The Eye? I know it wasn't your own. I don't see any sign of your id number accessing the system in the past six months."

Her eyes scanned the screens and thought back to what he'd said earlier. "You're going get back in touch with the Phoenix Group from 2149 and give them a way back here." One look at him confirmed her suspicions. "I didn't backup the formulas, Lucas," Skye said with a sinking feeling, somehow knowing it wouldn't matter. "I didn't want anyone to know what I was doing."

He kept smiling in that knowing, certain way of his that had irritated her the first time she met him. It made her want to claw at his face.

"You're probably not be aware of this, but I was on the team that built The Eye." He touched the curls resting on her neck and gave into the impulse to push them aside. Skye shrugged her shoulders automatically, but it didn't deter him this time.

Skye couldn't help but be surprised with this revelation. Yet it made sense. Lucas must have come to Terra Nova in the second or third pilgrimage. Despite what Lucas insisted, Skye couldn't imagine the Taylor she had known for the past five years to be anything other than a loving father. He would have wanted to keep his only child close. And with Lucas's uncommon intelligence, she could envision him working with the science and technology teams years before the first pilgrimage. Still, it was strange to imagine Lucas doing something normal and useful with his genius before he decided he was in the middle of a Greek tragedy.

"I know how to find the files I need. Our father is too... bovine to consider I might have placed certain measures to protect myself. This isn't the first time he's destroyed my work you know." His fingers played upon the skin between the edge of her shirt and her neck. "But there will be massive amounts of data to sort through..."

Skye tried to ignore the touch of his hands as she sorted through the thoughts in her head. How was it that she had been placed at the crux of this decision? Again? This shouldn't be her dilemma.

"This isn't fair," Skye mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Lucas's fingers spread across the back of her neck. Skye remembered only too well what he had done with those hand in that same area only hours ago.

"I can't - I won't help you again," Skye spoke with certainty. It may not be fair, she decided, but at least this time she wouldn't be blindly handing over information without knowing the consequences.

"Of course you won't." Lucas leaned in again. She heard him put the plex aside and Skye felt two of his fingers trail down from her shoulder to her elbow, up to the bare skin of her arm until his hand firmly gripped her limp one. His other arm coiled around her waist, pulling her closer until there was no space left between them. His strength once again made her resistance useless. "I don't expect it to be that easy with you. But maybe after I break a few of your fingers - "

"Lucas, stop," she begged and tugged unsuccessfully at her hand. Images of him brutally punching Josh and stabbing Taylor filled her mind.

"It's not about me, you or - or the Commander." Lucas squeezed harder at the mention of his father. She arched her head trying to catch Lucas's eyes. His father's eyes, Lucas had once claimed. Skye found it hard to see that when her feelings for the men differed so greatly. "The Phoenix Group... almost three dozen people died because of them."

"I knew most of them, Lucas. I don't want to see thirty-four more funerals." Skye bit her lip. It was difficult to shed her guardedness around Lucas. Skye knew she had some sort of affect on Lucas but doubted it reached far enough as to sway him on something so close to his heart. The best she could really hope for here would be to delay him.

"My best friend's dad, the woman who taught me how to make a fire, a friend's girlfriend. These are some of the people I'm never going to see again." Skye refused to look away even though she felt like she was drowning... "Did you hear about the kids who had the brilliantly stupid idea to hide a container of power cells? The Phoenix Group worked one of the kids over so badly he was in a coma for two weeks. And now there are things he can't do without - without help."

"I didn't kill them. I didn't hurt them," he simply said. "They made their decisions."

_Wash!_ Skye wanted to scream. _You killed Wash!_

He had grown still as he absorbed her words. He watched her with that same calculating look he had given her when she asked what was happening inside Terra Nova. "If they hadn't fought back, if they'd listened, no harm would have come to them."

"Wouldn't you have fought too if someone was trying to destroy your home?" Skye looked after him beseechingly. "Would it all have been worth it, Lucas? Thirty-four corpses for pulling one over your dad. They were _innocent_. They didn't deserve it." Lucas's hold became painful once again as his fingers pressed into her skin and Skye held back a cry.

"You think your commander _cares_ about who's innocent!" Seeing his anger quickly reappear, Skye tried to move away, but there was little room to go anywhere with his grip on her arms. "Do you think he gives a damn about your people? Coming here was the best thing that ever happened to him. He gets to play judge, jury, and executioner of Terra Nova and no one is allowed to question it. He _revels_ in being your dictator, the local god."

"That's not true." How was he capable of twisting everything when it came to Taylor?

"You just haven't opened your eyes when it comes to him. They tried to take the power away from him once. I don't think you would even believe me if I told you what he did." Skye observed a strange sort of stillness settle into him. One that made her want to avert her eyes and draw away. "We're only wasting time. When did you come here to reconcile the formulas?"

Skye shook her head and allowed her vision to rest on the floor.

"I done playing around," Lucas spoke in a low tone. "You're going to tell me exactly when you came here otherwise I'm going to break every single bone in your hand, _then your arms, and then..._"

Skye heard nothing. She tried to mentally prepare herself for what was to come next. _Thirty-four lives. Thirty-four corpses. I'll bear this for the next thirty-four._

When Lucas took note that she seemed to have signed out he stood them both up and shoved her back into the chair without him. "Or maybe I'll go after one of your old housemates. The Guzman girl just joined the security team didn't she? We'll see her out the gates sooner or later. Then there's that Reynolds, Max Pope... _Josh Shannon_."

_Thirty-four lives. Thirty-four corpses,_ Skye thought again, and, _Mr. Shannon and Taylor will keep them safe._

"How about the other Shannons you seem to have become so fond of lately? Which one of them is your favorite, hm?" Lucas began listing off their names and what he would do to each of them. Skye tried to keep anything from showing on her face but felt her resolve crumbling with each person's name. A deep revulsion ran through her when she heard Zoe's name from his lips.

"You can't mean that!" A torrent of panic caused her to cry out. "She's just a baby." Tears blurred her vision once again. Everyone had a line they wouldn't cross, right? Skye had naively expected Lucas to have one too, but she had never observed Lucas with children to know for certain.

"I don't want to mean it, but that's really up to you, isn't it?"

She knew he was trying to shake her, but she couldn't stand thinking of the possiblity of harm coming to the little girl. The girl with the sweet face and open smiles. The child who had been stolen away millions of years within the confines of a backpack.

"No, no, no, I don't want to do this again, Lucas," she cried in anguish. Skye repeated the mantra from earlier in her mind and tried to close herself off to his words. She shut her eyes and drew in her knees, but she couldn't stop hearing...

According to Lucas, there were many holes in Terra Nova's barriers, ones that even she didn't know about. Over the past week he'd kept an eye on the Shannons. The parents's schedules were irregular and Zoe would often be left in Maddy's care. Lucas had made it so close to Skye just a week ago and that had been just for fun. He could do the same again. Maybe even tonight.

An image of Zoe's toothy grin flashed in her mind.

Skye told him the information then immediately covered her face with her hands. Lucas spared no more time finding what he needed and loading the information onto a portable drive. When he was done he put it away in his pack and turned to see Skye looking up at him with hopeless eyes.

The anger and frustration he had held against her minutes ago were quickly replaced with curiosity. Every moment Lucas spent learning her brought more surprises. He didn't understand her now either. He hadn't injured her. Not really. Her headache would go away in a day or so and her mother might wake up with a slightly bruised throat, but otherwise the Tate family would live to see another day. Yet some harm had been done, Lucas noted as her tears fell. Otherwise why would she look at him that way.

_She's still innocent too,_ he thought and found himself strangely regretful for making her feeling as she did.

He pulled her up so she was standing too. This time Skye was able to plant her feet in a way that kept herself steady. She wasn't looking at him anymore. Her dazed expression seemed to look past him, past everything. He found it disturbing to see her this way. Lucas's hands touched the curls resting against her face and pushed them back like he had in the past.

"It won't be like before," he heard himself reassuring her. He wasn't even sure if he could make that true but found himself wanting to try for her sake. Skye nodded numbly waiting for whatever came next. "I promise," he said, hoping to see her empty eyes change. He ached to see some hint of that sparkling look he'd seen in her eyes the first time he saw her up close. That bright look he had seen her share with her mother. But her eyes would never look at him that way.

They were the same in some ways. She wouldn't see it while she was still in Taylor's thrall. Then they were also just as different. Two sides of the same coin. It aggravated Lucas to no end that his father had found Skye first and captured her heart and loyalty. If Lucas could have known Skye better before the attack on Terra Nova or maybe when she had first brought Deb to the Sixers, Skye would have _understood_. They would have been _perfect_.

The impulse was too overwhelming. He drew closer trapping her hands between them and tilted his head over hers hovering for a moment. Lucas didn't know when he would get this chance again, so he pressed his lips to hers. Skye didn't move closer, but she didn't move away either so he deepened the kiss. Something seemed to waken in Skye and she responded to him hesitantly. She had privately wondered what this would feel like. Although with all the other matters that surrounded and came between them, she filed it away as a disturbing and shameful desire refusing to linger on it.

It was happening and there was no denying it. Now that that she had damned herself anyway what did it matter? He was both rough and tender, both possessive yet deeply affectionate. His fingers curled into her hair careful to avoid her darkening bruise. How was he capable of being this way, especially after the awful things he had said just said to her?

The colony-wide security alarms began blaring for the second time in the past week. Lucas pulled away from her and looked up. "Father knows you're home," Skye remarked with a bitter smile. It must have been her mom. She was sure of it. Deborah must have gotten to a neighbor's for help. Now, Taylor would be coming for them and stop Lucas's plans from going forward.

"Not exactly." Lucas still held her face and found her small look of hope fading within his hands. "It's more likely way out." In fact he was certain of it. "This is where I have to go, Bucket," he said surprising her by quickly kissing her lips once more.

"No." Skye twisted her head away. Her hands fisted into his shirt. She felt herself returning to life. "You can't."

Lucas simply pushed her hands away and began to move. Skye flew forward and went for his gun but he grabbed her before she came close to reaching it. Lucas pressed the heel of his hand against the area he'd struck her on her head until she began to moan in pain. She fell over slightly using the chair to steady her as she struggled with another rush of nausea.

Skye slipped down to the floor feeling both angry and ashamed for her physical and mental weaknesses. Lucas crouched next to her looking past her tearful, hateful glare. He reached out to touch her face one last time with a soft look that only encouraged Skye to despise him further.

"I'll come back for you." It was a whisper. A promise. One she was certain he would keep. Yet Skye had no more words for him and Lucas didn't wait for any. He adjusted his packed, unholstered his gun and ran from the room.

Skye tried to follow him, falling over twice, but by the time she reached the outer doors of The Eye there was little doubt in her mind he was long gone. The cries of the alarms nearly overwhelmed her. She looked around at the drizzle of the rain and the search lights that passed over the empty market, the muddy mess of ground before her, and a number of officers racing in multiple directions. She heard the cries of humans and pterosaurs in the distance.

Skye took in a deep breath.

And screamed.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong> It took me a long time to get this chapter done in a way I liked, but I think it was worth it because this is my favorite one so far. Still, I'm uncomfortable with how many times the mood seems to change between Skye and Lucas.

For someone who rarely writes, this was quite a lot for me. I wrote the first four chapters (approx 7,500 words) in a few days which is _really_ unusual for me. And it's so flattering that I'm getting reviews asking for more! I apologize for the long break between the previous chapter and this one. This chapter is about 50% longer than the previous ones, so maybe that'll help with the apology?

I'll try to be better about updating, but unfortunately I have some ADD-I tendencies. Not to mention I also have a habit of welcoming a lot of fandom distractions and get obsessed with one thing or another that take me away from concentrating on writing (such as making gifs, rereading Game of Thrones, reading fics in other fandoms). :) Thanks for reading!


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